


Between Black & White

by THA_THUMPP



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Dissociative Identity Disorder, M/M, Mindfuck, Mobius (The Evil Within), Possessive Behavior, Psychological Drama, Self-Preservation, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 13:23:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2582969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/THA_THUMPP/pseuds/THA_THUMPP
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sebastian Castellanos took a deep breath and stepped up to the plate, more like stepped up to Ruvik. He was ready to sacrifice himself in place of Leslie, and Sebastian's almost struck dumb when he wakes up on the steps of Beacon Memorial afterwards. <em>Fine.</em> There isn't a scratch on him, but somehow he's not too sure about his psyche. There's this gray area at the back of his mind that he just wants to itch and itch and itch, although he doesn't know why... Not yet, at least.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Black & White

**Author's Note:**

> A different take on a possible ending. Also rated [E] for what's to come in later chapters... Harhar. Enjoy!

It was supposed to end right there, Sebastian thinks.

Right after the moment Kidman started waving her damned pistol around like her badge, her excuse to kill an innocent while feeding him the justification that it was the only way to stop Ruvik. To kill _Leslie_ , who was cowering behind him at the time. _For the greater good_ , or some bullshit like that.

But Sebastian wouldn’t have it.

He’d already lost enough to last him a lifetime. All the death, the destruction, so there was no way he was just going to stand by and let Kidman act on a whim. Instead, he stalked himself towards Ruvik in Leslie’s stead, turning a deaf ear and blind eye to his Junior Detective and her pleas for him to stop, and _think_.

Except he was thinking, all right.

Thinking of his partner, Joseph. That jerk, Dr. Jimenez. Even the countless lives damned along the way. All of them victims of one man – one man with an egotistical goal. So that’s what Sebastian was trying to prevent, hoping to avoid if he was used as a vessel in place of a broken boy. Someone who was still so young, who couldn’t fight back…

Unlike him.

Sebastian still had some fight left pumping through his veins when he offered himself to Ruvik. Though not by first glance. It would be a battle from within, he’d decided, and made that clear when he emptied his gun of bullets and threw it, holster and all, onto the ground in a careless toss.

It’d just be him, his body. That’s all Ruvik wanted, right? _A way out?_

Yeah, Sebastian could read that much from the caged eyes that jeered into his when he forced himself to stop in front of Ruvik. _Mine._ They said. _A compatible host just waiting to do my bidding._ And as much as it pained Sebastian to think of himself as playing that role he willed his legs not to bolt, but his hesitation was telling enough.

A faint smile had brushed one corner of Ruvik’s lips, in honor of his victory, no doubt, and no sooner did he waste any time in placing his hands on either side of Sebastian’s face. More specifically, his temples in a tight squeeze.

Sebastian winced. Up close the smell of burnt flesh was overpowering, putrid, goddamn unpleasant and he didn’t even try to hide his disgust with an upturned nose. But that’s when his whole body felt like it was on ice. Cold. _Wet_. A prickling numbness that stretched from the heels of his feet, then behind his eyes. It was a sensation that held strong up until Sebastian sensed his body melt from beneath him and trickle between Ruvik’s fingers like water.

Like the blood itself was trickling from his very veins and into nothing but darkness. _Nothingness_. But even among the gray shadows dancing against the eternal night around, Sebastian still felt surprisingly warm, like he wasn’t alone, like… someone was hugging him from behind.

Someone he couldn’t see.

And it was a feeling that stayed with him even after he awoke on scene amid the Beacon Mental Hospital bloodbath. Unscathed outwardly, inwardly sore, and surrounded by so much normality that it was creepy. No decrepit walls, no haunts. _Nothing_ that reminded him of the other world.

Sebastian didn’t feel any different either, only confused. Did anything even happen? Or did Ruvik’s plan fail? Was it finally over?

God, he could only hope it was, but the doubt didn’t stop swimming around in his head. There was something there among his thoughts, at the back of his mind… almost like _repressed memories_. A term a shrink might’ve used, but since Sebastian was only a detective he went with something more up his alley.

A hunch.

Though that was as far as he gave it power before backup arrived on scene at Beacon Memorial and swept the place clean. The same went for the questioning that came after, which was a breeze since Sebastian already knew all the backdoors to interrogation. How to keep his pulse steady, when to lie, when to tell the truth. _Ha_ , and it was cases like this one where the truth was so far out there that it was better to keep it to himself than sound crazy.

So that’s what Sebastian did. He tried to keep it normal – as normal as normal could be, anyways. But that didn’t mean life was any less stressful.

One week back on the job and no sooner was he reminded of the pain he went through by burying his partner, Joseph Oda. Though it was more like putting an empty coffin into the ground, which made the whole ordeal even more difficult to swallow.

No bodies were recovered from the Hospital yet. The building was still under investigation, the catacombs beneath the main structure, the many twisting halls of each floor, the cells. The search would take time. Plenty of what Sebastian had his hands on tonight.

It started with a stroll down his usual block, past a few busy corners, past the entrance to the subway, and straight to a street he knew well. The same one that housed his favorite bar – and before Sebastian even knew how much cash was in his wallet, a single drink had turned into five. Then ten?

To be honest, he’d lost count after six… but he figured he’d keep going until he dropped. Or _was_ dropped. _Literally_ , and Sebastian wasn’t usually a violent man before Beacon Mental Hospital, never even considered letting the alcohol affect his work or judgment before, but after learning how to use his fists in that hellhole of a world within Beacon he thought it’d be a shame to let them get out of practice.

 _That_ , and he had so much anger bottled and churning inside his belly that he was just aching to let it out of the box. And the next person who bumped him, either by accident or ill-intent, Sebastian let loose his demons. On one big, fat man in particular who reminded him of a haunt, and soon it became a bloody bar brawl – a brawl that resulted in Sebastian being thrown out onto the street first with a busted lip and bruised pride.

Although, it didn’t take him long to get back on his feet and find a new watering hole deep enough to retain his grief, which’s where he finds himself now.

 _Agony’s Crossbow,_ a crappy name for a bar, Sebastian thinks, also one he’s never heard of during his time in town. But the quality of the booze makes up for it. Except it also gets him thinking, and after another shot of whiskey is slid his way realization suddenly hits like a bolt.

Nothing’s ended. His life’s only been stuck on pause and now it’s on rewind. He’s back to his old habits, drowning, being swallowed up by the mouth of the bottle again.

Fuck it all. Sebastian’s throat feels tighter when he glimpses his reflection in the glass in front of him, so much that he can’t take another sip. But maybe that’s also because of his stomach, which’s rolling like a ship on one, very angry ocean, and when he finds himself choking on the past he bites the fresh gash on his lip, using it as a substitute in the stead of slamming back his second order.

Except the physical pain doesn’t drive away what’s already plaguing Sebastian’s psyche, or the bile filling his throat, and he after a heavy lift from the counter he’s dragging himself into the bathroom at the back and locking the door in a fumble.

Inside it’s only one stall, but to Sebastian it looks like a getaway – some place he can just think, and this time he _is_ thinking just as Kidman had asked.

He’s thinking about how she was also one of the bodies still missing after the raid of Beacon Mental Hospital. How she shot not only him, but also Joseph. How he wants to clamp his fingers around her neck like he’s doing to the counter now, to twist it hard enough until it snaps in two—

The mirror in front of Sebastian cracks in one corner, which pulls him from his mind in a sloppy cringe. A coincidence, maybe? An omen? Sebastian shakes his head like he’s giving it too much thought before he cranks on the sink’s tap to rinse his hands, then face.

First one splash. Two. But the water doesn’t help subside the malice swimming through his mind, if anything it makes him even more lightheaded than before, and for the third splash Sebastian finds himself leaning into the counter. Except this splash is slower than the other two and his hands don’t get very high, meaning his face has to get lower. Lower and lower, until it’s almost in the basin of the sink, and it’s then that Sebastian closes his eyes for the initial rinse.

But when it doesn’t hit he opens them again – only to find himself no longer standing in a grimy bathroom. He’s at the bottom of a staircase, two, looking up at the second story where he sees a figure appear. A man, just at the top step, who’s tattered and torn robe barely flutters from his shimmer of movement, a movement at the speed of light.

“Ruvik?” Sebastian doesn’t sound as surprised as he’d of liked when calling out. “What’re you doing here?”

Except when Sebastian looks around more carefully he has a better question…

 _What am I doing here?_ The words are unspoken, but they’re forceful enough to hang Sebastian’s jaw just short of closing and write his face with confusion when he takes a step back.

When it happened was beyond him, but now that he’s being observant he realizes that he’s standing in the foyer of the Victoriano Estate. In front of the double staircase wish-boning out and leading to the second floor, atop the marble tiles decorated with intricate detail, next to the crooked portraits alinging the walls around. _Every_ detail reflecting his first visit – or should Sebastian say _his entrapment_ , and while he’s still gawking Ruvik finally speaks up.

 _“Rude doesn’t begin to describe you, Seb.”_ His speech is as dull as ever. _“Has poor, little Joseph ever told you that? It’s what he thought about constantly when I was digging around inside his head.”_

Sebastian cringes at mention of his partner’s name. It sounds so belittled coming from such warped lips, and his reaction gives Ruvik just enough reason to keep going. Better yet, to bestow his favorite answer.

_“You are mine, remember?”_

“No.” Sebastian quips, a little too fast for his own voice because the rest of it gets caught in his throat before he tries again. “I just helped you get what you wanted.”

To a madman it sounds like the same thing. But to Sebastian it’s not. To his pride, there’s a big difference between just _giving_ Ruvik his body and having it taken from him like a mindless mannequin. Because unlike a mannequin Sebastian still has a soul – one he’s not too keen on losing just yet.

“So how’s this gonna work?” Sebastian motions to what he can of the Estate without taking his eyes off Ruvik, who hasn’t moved. But Sebastian knows it just a matter of time. _Monster does love his games, after all,_ he broods, _probably more so now since he’s not…_

_“Dead. Gone for good?”_

Did Ruvik just… Sebastian releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, unintentionally making it sound like a breathless _what_ as his eyes pull into something narrow when he tilts his head. He didn’t say anything outloud, so how the hell… Why does it feel like Ruvik can read his mind?

“What is this?” Sebastian tests. “Another one of your—”

_“Tricks?”_

“Stop it. Stop—”

_“—doing that.”_

“How—”

 _“—am I doing this?”_ Ruvik finishes again, for a third time, and Sebastian closes his mouth despite having another set of words hovering on the tip of his tongue, which – once more – Ruvik picks up on. _“No need for swearing, Seb.”_

But cussing comes natural for Sebastian Castellanos, about as natural as it feels for a man to smoke a cigarette after sex, and boy is he smoking now. Smoking mad.

“Why the fuck am I back here!” Sebastian gives into his anger, which also accidentally lets a little fear seep into his voice. It rumbles in his throat as softly as the beats of his heart pushing against the skin of his chest. But despite its presence he still manages to save face, starting with a rephrase of his initial question. “Why show yourself to me now?”

Because that’s the real issue he’s having here, seeing as it’s been on his mind for a while. After Beacon Memorial, while burying his partner. This feeling of not being alone, of being haunted, and with what he’s seeing now would definitely explain it. Except he just didn’t expect _this_ , and Ruvik knows it.

_“I have my reasons.”_

None very clear to Sebastian, and the guesswork it brings has him twisting his face into a scowl.

“Obviously you still need me somehow.” Sebastian throws out. “Need me to give you consent or something, to leave?”

The way Sebastian’s voice curves into a question at the end has Ruvik nursing his lips just short of a smile.

 _“Or something.”_ Ruvik quotes, his answer as vague as his features, and Sebastian feels his shoulders drop.

“Fuck, enough of these mind games! I want the truth!”

 _“The truth?”_ As quickly as Ruvik’s smile had come, it’s gone and soon his voice churns into something warning after he peeks from behind his hood. _“You can’t handle the truth.”_

Is that… distress Sebastian sees? Because he’s not really sure, considering Ruvik’s phlegmatic expression doesn’t give him much to go on, and the harder Sebastian seems to stare the trickier it seems to place – up until the moment he feels something swirling around his feet.

Sebastian’s head drops with his eyes, and they almost go wide when he realizes there’s water lapping at his ankles. _Water_ , spilling out from under the doors, from within the picture frames, from the second story down the stairs. Non-stop and fast, and in no time it’s up to Sebastian’s knees, which has him reeling his gaze back to Ruvik – who surprisingly looks just as anxious.

In more of a self-preservation kind of way, though.

“What the hell is this?” Sebastian squirms in place as the water rushes higher.

 _“You’re the detective, so why don’t you tell me.”_ Ruvik replies, evadingly, obviously already knowing the answer but just wants to hear it for kicks. _“Yes, tell me why I brought you here.”_

“How the hell should I know how you think!” Sebastian bites back, his fear visibly affecting his temper now, alongside his socks which are beginning to feel like weights inside his shoes. But that says nothing about his tongue. “You’re just some crazy psycho with a two-bit vendetta! All because some arrogant jerk stole your stupid research right from under your nose!”

Veracity at its finest, but Ruvik doesn’t appreciate the honesty and his face visibly glowers into something dark. So dark that after a minute he puts his hand out like Sebastian’s seen him do so many times before. It hovers and stops just short of his chest and suddenly there’s a slight binding sensation around Sebastian’s throat. But after that, nothing more…

 _“Hm.”_ Ruvik withdraws his hand and examines his palm in a couple light squeezes. _“It seems my power isn’t back to its full potential yet. No matter, I can’t kill you even if I want to… because you are right. I still need you.”_

Sebastian’s figured that much already, he just wants to know the _how_.

 _Just tell me…_ The urge to ask is twisting his gut, edging him on, but he can’t bring himself to form the words. There’s only so many times he feels he can repeat himself without sounding like a broken record, after all. And almost as if on cue Ruvik blinks over to where Sebastian’s wading, leaving the water’s surface free of any ripples. But that’s because he’s walking on it.

Unlike Sebastian, who’s about neck deep in the flood now.

 _“You’ll find out in due time.”_ Ruvik answers, naturally, as though he’d heard the plea spoken. _“Now, chin up, Seb._ ” He kneels down in front of Sebastian, watching the man struggle and choke on the water beginning to trickle into his mouth. _“Otherwise…”_

Ruvik moves his lips slowly, purposely, like he wants to give Sebastian a chance to read them before going under, which he does. But that’s also when he catches a glimpse of water rushing from Ruvik’s mouth as well.

_“We’re both going to drown.”_

In that instant, Sebastian jolts like his body was just pumped of adrenaline, though it’s more like fearing for his life, and the next thing he knows he’s back in the bar’s bathroom again and pulling his face from the basin where his head had apparently fallen.

Where the drain had accidentally gotten plugged and filled to the brim.

Where he _accidentally_ fell asleep…

“What… the fuck?” Sebastian heaves between breaths as he distances himself from the sink like it’s a portal, like it’s to blame for his anything but cozy chit-chat with Ruvik – which in a way it was, but now Sebastian knows the answer to his own question.

Why Ruvik came to him. What he was being warned about. Better yet, how this whole _way out_ scenario was going to play.

And without a second glance in the bathroom mirror, Sebastian leaves the bar. Not because he’s calling it a night though. It’s more like to wrap his head around what he’s just learned – that Ruvik’s plan didn’t fail.

In fact it worked. It fucking worked, and now they were connected, sharing _his_ body, and Sebastian sighs.

Great… Just what he asked for. Another nightmare.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are more than welcome. (◞≼◉ื≽◟ ;益;◞≼◉ื≽◟) Staaaaaaaaaaaare.


End file.
